The Bombay High Court held that repeated threats of suicide by a spouse—whether spoken, expressed through gestures, or implied—make it impossible for the other partner to continue the marriage in a stable and peaceful environment. Citing established Supreme Court precedent, the court said such behaviour amounts to mental cruelty and can justify the dissolution of a marriage.
The ruling was made while granting a divorce to a man from Thane. The couple married in 2006 and had a child in 2007, but the relationship soon began to deteriorate. The wife left the matrimonial home in 2012, after which the husband filed for divorce. In 2019, the family court rejected his petition, observing that although the wife had attempted suicide, the absence of a police complaint meant cruelty could not be established.
The High Court disagreed with this reasoning. The bench of Chief Justice Chandrashekhar and Justice Gautam A. Ankhad stated that the lack of a police report cannot always be interpreted against the aggrieved spouse because many people avoid lodging complaints to prevent further escalation. The judges emphasised that the allegations of suspicion, along with the suicide attempt cited in the husband’s evidence, indicated behaviour that made it unreasonable to expect the couple to continue living together.
The bench further stated that the family court’s refusal to grant a divorce was influenced by generalised perceptions rather than a proper evaluation of evidence. It also noted that the wife had not initiated any proceedings for custody of the minor child, which the court viewed as a relevant factor. Given that the couple had been living separately since 2012 and had not cohabited for more than a decade, the High Court found no justification to continue the marriage.
Although the court remarked that the husband had lied about not remarrying—based on a police report indicating he lived with another woman and their child—it held that forcing the marriage to continue would only prolong the mutual cruelty and conflict between the spouses.
Granting the divorce, the High Court ordered the man to pay ₹25 lakh to his former wife and transfer ownership of two flats to her as part of a final settlement.
